Roses and Thorns
by Bubbles92
Summary: Some people have secrets and some people tell lies some people make bad decisions but not usually ones that endanger the lives of themseves and everyone around them. For the sake of the story Nikki has a daughter. bad summary,oh well enjoy and Reveiw
1. The Wrong Place To Be

She kicked the empty can down the alley and carried on walking, she shouldn't be here, it was too dangerous even in broad daylight, yet she had done this many a time. The alley was narrow and dingy; it smelt of cigarette smoke, body odour, urine, rotting and alcohol lots of alcohol, and to go with the smell there were smashed bottles lying amongst dirt and rotting food, bags of rubbish were split open and dustbins had been kicked over. Rats ran in the shadows and she could see dried blood splats on the walls and path presumably from the many fights that happened down here. She ran her fingers through her matted pure blonde curls as she kicked some old needles and syringes towards the sides of the alley, she could hear rustling and footsteps, she picked up her pace now almost running.

She crouched behind a dustbin as she felt her foot squelch in something she didn't particularly want to know. She heard the footsteps walk past and fade slowly. She emerged from her hiding place and wearily began walking again. She stopped at a door, the disgusting brown paint was peeling and you could see the rotting wood it had been trying to cover up, the handle was a dirty gold and was covered in grime. She opened the door and stepped into the building.

The room she entered in was dark there was no light except for a dim lamp on a dirty wooden desk, she could hear water dripping from the ceiling, she walked towards the desk the floorboards creaking as she went. Her breathing quickened as she heard a second set of footsteps, her heart was pounding against her chest. She took a deep breath the handle of the second door turned and the door pushed open. She drew a knife from her pocket and pointed it towards the door. A short hunched old lady emerged and put her hands up as she saw the knife.

"Don't worry dear its only me, George hasn't arrived yet"

The girl sighed with relief as she put her knife away. The old woman was wearing a dirty long floral dress and a ripped dirty white shawl, her smile was eerie but kind, her teeth were yellow, brown and broken. He grey hair hadn't been washed in a while and she stood bent over clinging to a long rotting stick for dear life.

"I've been expecting you you're late"

The old woman said as she hobbled over and put a grubby hand on the girls shoulder. The girl turned to the old woman and passed her a bulky envelope; the woman snatched it and stuffed it into her dress pocket.

"I'm sorry I got a bit caught up now here's the money I need to go before he comes"

The old woman nodded and motioned towards the door, she slipped a parcel with a note on the front into the girls bag the girl acknowledge this and nodded as she walked out of the door she turned her head.

"Same time tomorrow?"

The old lady made a coughing noise and nodded slowly as she watched the girl leave, when the door closed the woman let out a small laugh as she said to herself

"I will be very surprised if you turn up tomorrow"

The Girl walked down the alley again she heard something and began to run but it was too late she felt a firm hand on her shoulder, she turned around and screamed.

"I thought I'd find you here"


	2. Not Going To Be Pleased

He ran his fingers through his short greying hair and sighed loudly, his head was pounding; this was not the time for a migraine. He shuffled the papers round on his clean but slightly untidy desk. He had so much paperwork to do, and he was not in the mood for it.

The phone started ringing it was quiet, but to him it sounded like someone had adjusted the fire alarm to a bursting eardrum setting. He picked it up and dropped it, he groaned as he bent down to grab it off of the floor, he sat back up in his soft black leather chair and placed the phone to his ear.

"Professor Dalton speaking"

He heard a woman cough on the other end on the phone

"Hello this is Mrs Mathews, head of St Mays School for girls, is Miss Alexander available"

The woman's slightly well to do voice sent pain waves through his head, she didn't need to shout he thought to himself.

"I'm sorry DR Alexander is in the middle of a PM, can I take a message"

Leo emphasised on the Doctor part, the woman was starting to annoy him. She should have phoned Nikki's mobile not his office phone.

"Yes you can take a message it's urgent, Kaytie hasn't turned up for school today and it's not the first time we just wondered if she was ill or something"

Leo groaned quietly the lady was seriously getting on his nerves, but then it clicked what she had said, he began to get worried he knew Kaytie wasn't ill; he had been the one who had dropped her off at school when she had missed the bus earlier that morning when Nikki was busy.

"Umm are you sure Kaytie isn't there I did take her in this morning"

The woman sighed Leo could picture her rolling her eyes. He tapped his fingers against his wooden desk.

"Yes we are very sure, I must go now goodbye"

And with that the woman put down the phone. Leo was shocked the lady didn't even care that Kaytie was missing. He thought about it for a while then her caught sight of the blonde woman through his blinds oblivious to everything. She was definitely not going to be pleased.


	3. Shouldn't have happened

The park was empty; as you would expect it would be at this time of day everyone was at school or work. It was not completely empty though as one girl was sitting on a wet bench on the hill a strong breeze blowing her blonde curls over her tear stained face, her eyes red from which tears would not stop cascading down her pale cheeks, this was another place she shouldn't be but it wasn't for the danger, for there was none it was a park but for the fact she should be at school, and if she had been there none of the day's events would have happened.

And it was times like this she wished she could just die. She had gotten in too deep, got involved with the wrong people. She couldn't tell anyone about it, she couldn't do anything about it she just had to live with it learn to cope. That in itself was impossible, how could you learn to cope with waking up every morning scared to death that as soon as you get out of bed you would die, or being totally paranoid and not being able to close your eyes because someone is most definitely following you all the time and that one false move or one slip of the tongue would ensure you and someone else's death. It was hell living hell, she knew deep down that now she wouldn't be around for much longer because even if someone else didn't get her she would lose hope and the will to live and get herself. She had truly thought that everything would be ok but as soon as he had put his hand on her shoulder that morning and during the events that followed she had come to realise that it wouldn't.

She looked at her phone her background was a picture of her mum, her mum's friend, her mum's boss and her laughing at something that had been said a few moments before the picture had been taken, she could remember that evening so well it was the night before she had gone into that couples house the night before her life changed. A fresh set of pearly tears ran down her face as she thought about how she could never go back to that, and it terrified her to think that soon the phone in her hand would almost definitely be used as evidence in her own murder investigation. She had tried convincing herself that she wasn't going to die but it was inevitable, she got herself into this situation so she had to cope with the truth.

Leo closed Nikki's front door and walked grumpily down the path, he got into his car and thumped his head against the steering wheel.

"SHIT!!!" he shouted at himself, Kaytie hadn't been in the house, which was just perfect he thought, he was going to have to tell Nikki. There was nowhere else that she could be, well nowhere else that Leo could think of, and then a thought occurred to him, he remembered Kaytie saying to him when he was in a particularly bad mood that whenever she needed to let out some anger or clear her head she would go to the park.

So that is where he shall go.

Leo wrapped his scarf around his neck and pulled his coat together and held it, the bitter cold wind was blowing in his face he could barely walk. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a feminine figure sitting on the bench on the hill, he turned around and looked closely and saw the girl, she had her hands held to her face which he couldn't see clearly because of the curls flowing in front. She was wearing a green blazer and a short black skirt, she had blonde curly hair that much he could tell, and from that information he decided that it was definitely Kaytie.

As he walked steadily up the hill and came closer to her he held his hand to his mouth in shock, her shirt was ripped open the buttons missing revealing her hot pink bra which was twisted, her skirt had been torn and she wore no tights even though Leo could remember her wearing black ones this morning. Her legs were cut and bruised as was her face, her curls were no longer in the neat high ponytail they had been this morning they were down and knotted. She wasn't wearing her jumper and she was holding her damaged blazer around her shoulders the cuts on her arms were probably too painful for the fabric to touch.

Leo knew what had happened to Kaytie the signs were there; he was a pathologist after all. Despite this he knew he needed to try to get it out of her In her own time, so he sat on the bench next to her she didn't stir she just stared into the distance a pained look in her eyes, he put his arm around her shoulder and she collapsed into him her head on his chest and sobbed, he held her tighter, comfortingly

"Everything's going to be ok" he whispered, Kaytie wanted to believe him but she knew deep inside it really wasn't.


End file.
